


You Will Always Have A Home Here

by Avrilsky



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Nicole basically takes care of Waverly, Some Fluff, Some angst, Tumblr Prompt, i hate tagging things
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-31
Updated: 2017-07-31
Packaged: 2018-12-09 12:43:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11669373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Avrilsky/pseuds/Avrilsky
Summary: Waverly visits Nicole after Willa walked in on them in the barn.





	You Will Always Have A Home Here

Lightning cracked across the sky, followed by thunder so loud it shook the sliding glass doors Nicole was standing in front of.

She stared out into the night sky watching another bolt of lightning light up the sky, illuminating the dark clouds stretching out as far as she could see. Fat rain drops hit the glass with soft thuds blurring her view slightly.

It was nasty out and for once Nicole was glad she wasn’t on patrol, that Nedley had given her the night off after a miserable shift the day before.

She glanced down to the phone in her hand, hoping for a call or text from Waverly. She hadn’t seen or talked to Waverly since Willa interrupted them earlier that day and she just left.

She hated herself for just leaving Waverly alone with the eldest Earp. There was something about Willa Earp that raised every one of her red flags and she wasn’t entirely sure why.

Maybe it was because Willa was kind of a dickhead. Or maybe it was the way Willa talked to her, talked to Waverly as if they were beneath her.

She should probably give Willa a little leeway after everything she had been through and she would if it was only her that Willa mistreated but she couldn't stand someone treating Waverly that way.

She wanted to say something to Willa, stand up for Waverly, defend her but she wasn't sure if it was her place. She wasn't sure how Waverly would react.

She didn’t want to overstep, didn’t want Waverly to think she thought Waverly couldn’t take care of herself, couldn’t stand up for herself.

The last thing she wanted to do was upset Waverly after everything Waverly had been through in the past few days. She didn’t want to be another thing Waverly had to worry about, had to stress about.

Things were still so new between them but she wanted to be the person Waverly could come to with anything. She wanted to be Waverly’s safe space. She wanted to be Waverly’s person because whether Waverly knew it or not, she was already Nicole’s person.

Nicole leaned her forehead against the cool glass doors and sighed. It was time to change Waverly’s bandage and honestly, Nicole didn’t trust Willa enough to do it properly, to do it with care and without some hateful comment.

She pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes and breathed deeply before reaching for her beer on the side table that sat beside the glass door. She downed the rest of the beer and stared at her phone, wondering if she should call Waverly or wait until Waverly reached out to her.

Her decision was made for her when a loud knock on her front door startled her from her thoughts.

With one last look at her phone she tossed it onto her worn, old couch and headed for the door, stepping over her cat sleeping in the middle of the floor, curled up on a small quilted blanket that used to lay at the foot of Nicole’s bed.

She threw her beer bottle in the trash can as she passed the kitchen and headed for the front door.

Looking through the peephole, she saw Waverly standing on the other side of the door, clothes drenched and clinging to her body. Her arms wrapped tightly around herself as she stared down at her shoes, shaking.

Worry swelled in Nicole’s chest as she wrenched the door open. If Waverly had driven all this way in the storm something had to be wrong.

“Waves,” she said softly, reaching out to touch Waverly’s shoulder gently, who was still staring at the floor, having not noticed Nicole opening the door, too lost in her own thoughts.

Which did nothing to ease Nicole’s worry.

“Is everything okay?” She asked, bending down to catch Waverly’s eyes. Eyes that were filled to the brim with tears.

Nicole pulled Waverly inside as gently as she could, shutting the door behind them and wrapped her arms around the younger woman, holding her to her chest. Not caring that the t-shirt and sweatpants she was wearing were getting wet.

“Baby, what’s going on? What happened?” She asked, running her fingers through wet tangled hair. “Are you okay?”

Waverly didn’t say anything for a few moments, just allowed Nicole to hold her while she shook in Nicole’s arms.

Nicole felt helpless. Unsure of what to do, how to help Waverly. So she just held her, mumbling soft reassurances against her hair and hoped that it was enough.

When Waverly finally pulled away, she wiped at her eyes and gave Nicole that fake smile she wore while working at Shorty’s. “Everything is fine.”

It was a lie. A flat out lie but Nicole didn’t call her out on it, knowing that Waverly would tell her when she was ready.

Instead Nicole helped Waverly out of her jacket and took her hand, leading her further into the apartment and towards the bathroom, tossing the dripping jacket onto a chair in the kitchen as they passed by.

“You’re gonna catch a cold if you don’t get dry and warm,” Nicole said when they entered the bathroom. “I’ll get you some dry clothes, take your time.”

Nicole kissed Waverly’s forehead and moved to leave the bathroom but was stopped with a hand on her wrist, pulling her back to Waverly.

Waverly dropped her wrist and stared up at her. Her cold, trembling fingers coming up and caressing Nicole’s cheek.

“Thank you,” Waverly whispered, leaning up on her tippy toes and pressing a gentle kiss to Nicole’s lips.

“Anytime Waves.”

Nicole kissed her once more before leaving the bathroom, and closing the door behind her. She moved to her bedroom, stripping of her damped clothes and changing into some basketball shorts and an old academy t-shirt.

She searched through her dresser for her comfiest pair of sweats and her softest t-shirt for Waverly to wear. She grabbed a pair of fuzzy socks her mom had gotten her before her big move to Canada and walked across the hall to the bathroom.

She knocked lightly on the bathroom door and waited for Waverly to answer before opening the door and placing the clothes on the sink, doing her best to keep her eyes from drifting towards the shower.

“I’ll just be in the other room if you need anything.”

Waverly thanked her again but this time the words come out with a sob and Nicole has to force herself out of the bathroom to keep from going to Waverly in that moment.

She hated seeing Waverly so upset, hearing her sound so broken and not being able to do anything about it, not being able to make it better.

Nicole forced herself into action and pushing off the bathroom door, heading into the living room and grabbing the throw blanket from the back of the couch.

She headed to the laundry room off to the side of her small kitchen and threw the blanket into the dryer, set the timer for ten minutes and went back into the kitchen to make Waverly some hot chocolate.

She may not be able to fix whatever was hurting Waverly, she may not be able to make it better but she damn sure could make sure Waverly was warm and cared for.

* * *

By the time Waverly finished in the shower, Nicole had a steaming cup of hot chocolate sitting on the coffee table, along with everything she needed to redress the wound on Waverly’s side.

She watched silently as Waverly enter the living room, using a towel to dry her hair. The clothes Nicole had given her a size too big. She had to roll the pants up to keep from tripping over them.

Nicole’s eyes were drawn to Wavery’s, which were puffy and red causing Nicole's heart to ache for her.

Waverly moved slowly across the living room as if on autopilot and plopped down next to Nicole, not saying anything as she stared straight ahead at the dark tv hanging on the wall.

“Feel better?” Nicole asked softly, resting her hand on Waverly’s knee. “Warmer?”

“Yeah.” Waverly nodded and pointed to the mug on the coffee table. “Is that for me?”

“Yes,” Nicole answered, picking the mug up and handing it to Waverly before taking the towel from her and taking it to the laundry room, grabbing the blanket from the dryer while she was in there.

When she came back into the room, Nicole kneeled in front of Waverly and draped the warm blanket over her shoulders, rubbing her hands up and down Waverly’s arms. “How’s that?”

“Better,” Waverly mumbled taking a sip of the hot chocolate, giving a slight grimace. “Is that whiskey?”

Nicole nodded. “I figured you could use it.”

It was an old family recipe that Nicole had only made a few times. It was usually saved for Christmas Eve but after everything Waverly had been through in the past week, she figured Waverly could use the comfort of whiskey and chocolate.

“It’s good. Thank you.”

“Anything for you, baby.” Nicole smiled at her, waving a hand at the first aid supplies on the coffee table. “Can I redress your side?”

“You don’t have to,” Waverly said, holding the mug tightly in both hands as if she’s trying to draw the heat from it. “I can do it besides, it’s starting to scab up.”

“I know but, I want to.” Nicole reassured her, rubbing circles against Waverly’s arm with her thumb. “If you’ll let me.”

“You can.”

Waverly sat her mug down on the table then lifted her borrowed t-shirt up on one side, just enough to expose the ugly graze marring Waverly’s tan skin just below the swell of her breast.

Usually the sight of so much of Waverly’s smooth skin would have her heart beating wildly in her chest and heat settling in her lower abdomen and have her yearning to explore, to touch, to kiss every inch available to her but now, her only focus was on the red, raw wound that seemed to be staring back at her.

Much to Nicole’s relief the wound was no longer bleeding, it wasn’t swollen and upon tracing the skin around it as gently as possible it wasn’t hot. Nicole breathed out a sigh of relief. It wasn’t infected.

Nicole could still feel the paralyzing fear she felt when she first got the call about the shooting at the Earp homestead. The whole ride out to the homestead with Nedley, Nicole felt like she couldn’t breath, not until she could see for herself that Waverly was okay. The drive felt like the longest thirty minutes of Nicole’s life.

But no matter she had been feeling in those moments, she couldn’t image what Waverly had been feeling, how scared she must have been.

“I’m really happy you’re okay,” Nicole breathed, dabbing the wound with a cotton ball that had rubbing alcohol on it and blowing lightly on it when Waverly winced.

Nicole placed a large white gauze over the wound and reached blindly behind her for the medical tape she already had cut off and had ready. Once the gauze was in place and taped, Nicole leaned forward a press a kiss to it before lowering Waverly’s shirt back down.

“Thank you, Nicole,” Waverly said softly, pulling the blanket tighter around her then picked up her hot chocolate while Nicole grabbed the hairbrush off the table and sat on the couch next to Waverly.

“You don’t have to thank me, Waves. I like being able to take care of you.”

“I can’t remember the last time someone took care of me,” Waverly mumbled and Nicole could hear the sadness in her voice, the loneliness and it broke her heart.

“Well, you have me now and I’ll take care of you for as long as you’ll have me.”

Waverly twisted to face her, nothing but affection shining in her hazel eyes, tracing Nicole's jawline with a single finger.”You’re too good to me.”

“I just care about you.”

“Sometimes it seems like you’re the only one,” Waverly said quietly, looking down into her mug.

Nicole wet her lips, dropping the hairbrush beside her and setting Waverly’s mug back on the coffee table. She moved closer to her and wrapped her arms around her.

If the loneliness and sadness in Waverly’s voice broke her heart before then the sorrow, the misery in her voice now was soul crushing.

Waverly leaned into her embrace and her breathing pick up as if she was trying not to cry.

“You don’t have to act like you’re okay, not with me,” Nicole whispered, moving back so she was leaning against the arm of the couch and pulling Waverly with her, so they were both fully on the couch and Waverly was sitting between her legs and was able to lay against her chest.

“You’re safe here, Waverly. It’s okay to cry, I got you.”

Waverly pressed her face against Nicole’s chest and she could feel the tears soaking through her shirt.

She rubbed her hands up and down Waverly’s back under the blanket, mumbling sweet nothings and reassuring words as Waverly cried, her body shaking with the heart wrenching sobs.

“I've got you, baby. I've got you.”

After a while Waverly's tears stopped but her body still trembled again Nicole's, her breathing was still ragged.

“I feel like I’m six years old again, trying everything in my power to be included in the things Willa and Wynonna do. Trying everything in my power to be noticed, to not feel like an outsider in my own home.”

The words are muffled, spoken against her chest and if there had been anything other than the sound of the storm raging outside, Nicole wouldn't have heard her.

“I overheard Willa and Wynonna in the barn before the homestead was attacked and Willa pretends like I don't exist, like Wynonna has been alone all this time.”

“I'm sure Wynonna doesn't feel that way. She knows that you're the only one that trusts her, believes in her, loves her despite her leaving.”

If there was one thing Nicole learned from her night of drinking with Wynonna, it was that Wynonna loved Waverly more than anything and would do anything to protect her, to keep her safe.

“They used to be thick as thieves growing up. They did everything together and more often than not I was left alone, ignored by them and Daddy.”

Nicole held her tighter, pressing light kisses into her still damp hair.

She wouldn't say anything else, not yet. She'd offer her silent support and allowing Waverly to get it all out in the open, get it all off her chest.

“You would think being ignored was the worst part but some days I preferred it because if Willa wasn't ignoring me then she was being cruel and not in the typical big sister way.”

Waverly got quiet again and she picked at the hem of Nicole's shirt but Nicole didn't push her to keep going. She let her take her time.

“When I was four, Willa blackmailed me into walking across a support beam in the barn just because I went through one of Daddy’s drawers. Then there was the time when I was five or six and she threw Mister Rabbit, my favorite stuffed animal, out on the frozen lake, knowing how thin the ice was and that I would probably fall through.”

Whatever disdain Nicole felt towards Willa quickly turned to hatred. As an older sister it was Willa’s job to protect Waverly, not nearly get her killed. And why the hell hadn’t Wynonna done anything? Why didn’t Wynonna protect Waverly.

“She hated me, hates me and I don’t even know why.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Nicole asked, her hands stilling on Waverly’s back. “I would have never left you alone with her if I had known.”

Waverly tensed against her before pulling back enough to look at her, a silent rage burning in her hazel eyes and Nicole knew she said the wrong thing.

“Why so you could have protected me? I’m not a child, I don’t need you to protect me, I don't need anyone to protect me,” Waverly snapped then her shoulders slumped in defeat and the rage in her eyes died down. “I’m sorry, you didn’t deserve that.”

Nicole removed her hands from Waverly’s back and held Waverly’s face in her hands.

“I know you don’t need me or anyone else to protect you. I know you are perfectly capable of taking care of yourself, Waverly Earp but I care about you so damn much and if need be I will protect you to my last breath.”

“Don’t,” Waverly whispered, her eyes filling with tears again as her hands covered Nicole’s. “Please, don’t give your life for mine. I don’t want to live in a world without you in it, Nicole.”

Waverly coaxed her into a gentle kiss then pressed their foreheads together. “I really, really like you.”

Nicole grinned, unable to help herself she kissed Waverly again. “I really, really like you too, Waverly and you will always have a home here, you will always been wanted and seen here.”

“Thank you,” Waverly whispered against her lips. “For being here, being you. For giving me somewhere I know I belong.”

“Anytime, baby,” Nicole picked the hair brush up from the floor, where it fell when they changed positions. “Turn around, I’ll brush your hair out.”

Waverly shifted until she was facing the sliding glass doors, watching the rain beat down against the glass. “Will you braid it for me too?”

Nicole kissed the side of Waverly’s neck, smiling against her skin when Waverly sighed softly. “Whatever you want, Waves.”


End file.
